It's tough to think about how people will read in 50 years when you're worrying about what they'll read tomorrow.

So after just a couple of years as chief executive of Powell's Books, Emily Powell -- granddaughter of the bookseller's founder -- told employees last month she would step down and focus on the Portland company's long-term strategy in a quickly changing market.

Powell remains the third-generation owner of Powell's Books, having effectively taken over running the company from her father, Michael Powell, in 2012.

Powell’s Books 

Ownership: Privately held by the Powell family 

Founded: 1971 in Portland 

Chief executive: Miriam Sontz 

Employees: About 500 

Locations: Six — if you count the three at Portland International Airport as one, and Building 2 next to Powell’s City of Books as a separate location — as well as five warehouses 

She'll be replaced as chief executive by Miriam Sontz, who was most recently the company's chief operating officer. Sontz, who at one point served as the co-CEO of the company, will oversee the bookseller's day-to-day operations and strategic planning.

"Fundamentally, I am the owner of Powell's," Powell said Thursday. "There's real work attached with that role, and I wasn't able to focus on that new responsibility and be CEO at the same time."

Powell took over as chief executive in 2011 during a trying time for the company. Citing declining book sales, Powell's cut 31 full- and part-time jobs in its retail stores and eliminated eight corporate managers.

But the pain continues for the brick-and-mortar bookselling industry. In 2011, as the Borders book chain collapsed, book sales at physical stores fell 12.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Book Industry Study Group. Sales of books overall fell 2.5 percent to $27.2 billion.

The privately-held Powell's, which also sells books online, does not release sales figures.

But Powell -- who often carries an iPad and says she reads books frequently on her iPhone -- said the company's strength "will always lie in our physical presence."

"I think the dirty secret of the book business is that people still love to read," Powell said. "People love a physical object and they love to read, and we get to play in that in a way an online-only retailer doesn't get to."

Powell's last year installed an Espresso Book Machine, which prints and binds books on demand from a catalog of licensed works or provided by the customer for self publishing. It has also increased the number of readings by authors and other events at the well-trafficked Powell's City of Books, the company's flagship store, and its five other physical locations.

In other words, Sontz said, the company is playing up the experiences only a physical bookstore can provide.

"(Reading is) a very tactile experience," Sontz said. "In a high-tech world, there are many people who still look for environments where you get the tactile experience of surrounding yourself with books and booklovers."

A forthcoming redesign of Powells.com aims to emulate that experience, she said.

In addition to the bookstore, Powell's new role will allow her to turn her attention to other parts of the family's business. Last year, she was involved in a deal to build student housing for the Pacific Northwest College of Art at the former site of Powell's Technical Books adjacent to the North Park Blocks.

"Fundamentally my passion is in books and reading and how to keep Powell's vital for the reading community," she said.